


Teasing Ambush

by FrenchScribbler



Series: How the lettuce family got bigger [6]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning, Neck Kissing, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Time Skip, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Side character's canon death, Slow Burn, Teasing, love bite, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24495466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrenchScribbler/pseuds/FrenchScribbler
Summary: Hilda and Sylvain collude to ambush Seteth with some juicy gossip involving him and their favorite teacher.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth & Seteth, My Unit | Byleth/Seteth
Series: How the lettuce family got bigger [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762282
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Teasing Ambush

**Author's Note:**

> The items Sylvain mentions (love letter, lipstick) are actually two of his lost items in the game.

To catch up with the work he had put on hold because of his exhaustion, Seteth had been unable to attend the ball but he had heard that Byleth had been very popular, everybody wanted to dance with her. He didn’t know she knew how to dance; he was sorry to have missed that. Flayn had given him a full report as soon as she had gone to bed. However, when he had asked with who she had danced herself, her answer had been quite evasive, enough to make him regret he hadn’t gone to the ball after all.

The day after, thinking about who might have been so bold as to invite Flayn to dance without his authorization, Seteth was clenching his teeth and writing with an annoyed expression on his face. They recently had a fight because he had gone too far with his overprotectiveness but, as usual, he had chosen to ignore her wish for independence. Flayn claimed she was not a child anymore but she would always be his baby. The moment he had held her in his arms the day she was born, he had sworn to protect her at any cost. He knew she had grown up since but he wasn’t ready to admit it yet.

When he heard the rain suddenly pouring outside, Seteth decided to take a short break. He stood up and walked to the window to watch the landscape. He didn’t like the rain, it reminded him of memories he wished to forget. He had lost his wife on a rainy day. It had been so long he didn’t remember her face anymore. However, he still remembered the days they had spent fishing, some moments when she would tell their daughter bedtime stories he had written, the way she pronounced his name. The church where they had met was still standing in Enbarr.

Suddenly, the sound of running steps in the corridor interrupted his trail of thoughts. He walked to his open door to see what the fuss was about. He heard the voice of a student speaking to Manuela in the infirmary. He was out of breath and he sounded alarmed.

“Professor Manuela!” the student cried. “It’s Captain Jeralt! He got stabbed! I ran as fast as I could…”

She stormed out of the infirmary, tailed by a student Seteth recognized as Ashe, the adopted son of Lord Lonato and a student of the Blue Lions.

“Seteth, please inform Lady Rhea,” she commanded when she noticed him. “She’ll want to know.”

Jeralt was a man of extensive combat experience. Stabbing him wouldn’t have been an easy feat. What about Byleth then? They were working on this mission together. It was about investigating a derelict chapel near the monastery that has been trespassed on.

Seteth quickly went down the stairs to get more information as Rhea requested anxiously. Knight were barring all access to the entrance hall. He was authorized to go through as the archbishop’s assistant. And down a last set of stairs, in the middle of the room, he saw knights of Alois’ battalion carrying Jeralt’s body on a large piece of fabric they used as a stretcher. Alois was crying, Manuela was giving orders in a low voice, the Blue Lions students looked powerless and wet by the rain. Priests and priestesses enjoined them to come with them and get themselves warm. One of them tried to talk to Byleth but she didn’t answer. She stood there, silent. She was looking at Jeralt with a mournful face. She had just lost her father, her only family. Seteth approached her, pained to see her like this though he couldn’t show it. She was drenched from head to toe. He thought that the drops of water he saw on her cheeks came from her wet hair but they actually came from her reddened eyes. She was crying in silence. He wished to hug her, offer her comfort. Not here. Maybe later.

“Professor,” he said in a soft voice as he placed a hand on her wet shoulder. “You should change your clothes or you’ll catch a cold.”

She didn’t answer. Manuela guided the knights who were carrying Jeralt’s body to another room and the students silently walked up the stairs. They looked worried for their teacher.

“Alois,” he called, turning to the knight who was drying his tears with a handkerchief. “Please tell Rhea of what happened. I’ll find you later.”

Then Seteth placed his arms behind Byleth’s shoulders and guided her to her room. He thought about Rhea when she would learn she had lost a friend. Her grief in loss tended to be acute. She was still suffering from her mother’s death while it had happened ages ago.

In Byleth’s room, Seteth helped her getting rid of her wet, heavy coat and found a towel to help her dry her hair. She looked in a daze, with her eyes cast down, still shocked about her father’s death. He made her sit on the chair and removed her boots while the towel he had let on her head was hiding half of her face. Kneeled in front of her, Seteth looked up to her and took her hand. She was finally looking at him and seemed to realize only now he was by her side.

“You need to change your clothes,” he repeated. “I’ll wait outside.”

He stood up and left the room to wait behind the door. There, he saw Flayn, whose face was filled with worry. She had heard the news and was anxious about Byleth but she was relieved to see him there so her beloved teacher wouldn’t alone. In different circumstances, she would have probably teased him about his presence there. She told him none of the Blue Lions students had been hurt but they were sad about Jeralt’s passing and sympathized with Byleth, especially the ones who had lost a parent.

When Flayn returned to her classmates, Seteth came back in Byleth’s room. She was wearing her Academy uniform’s skirt and finishing buttoning a white shirt. She was bare foot and her hair was still wet. He found a thin blanket and covered her with it. Then, he took back the towel she had put on her desk and rubbed her hair to dry it faster. Byleth looked up to him with a slight smile.

“Thank you,” she said in a low voice. “You’re very kind.”

“A-Anyone would do the same,” he answered, flustered.

Embarrassed from being complimented out of the blue, he slipped the towel on her head to hide himself from her sight and continued rubbing. He suddenly remembered what she had told him last time they’d had a private conversation. _You’re not anyone, Seteth_. He felt himself blushing.

Then, he stopped drying her hair when she pushed her forehead on his chest. Byleth was crying again. She dropped the blanket when she clung to his clothes to hide her face against him. He put the towel on the chair and hugged her to warm her and bring her comfort. Seteth didn’t know what to say to lighten her pain. Sometimes, words weren’t needed. Being there was enough. Byleth herself wasn’t a woman of many words. Her deeds usually spoke for her. Outside, the rain seemed to match her pain. He would have to make sure every flood risk would be attended to when going back to work.

After a week of mourning, Byleth had come back to work. She had spent most of her time in her room or in Jeralt’s office. Seteth had sent many knights out in search of Monica, Jeralt’s murderer, and her associates. After examining Jeralt’s fatal wound, Manuela had reported it had been caused by a weapon made of unknown material that was likely to have caused him a swifter death than expected from such a wound. It was frustrating to know that the enemy had been right under their noses, in their own ranks all along. First, Jeritza; then, Tomas; and now, Monica. Though according to accounts that had been made about Tomas and Monica, it was likely that the real ones had been killed for the enemy to infiltrate the monastery using their appearances.

Three weeks after Jeralt’s death, Byleth looked like the way she had always did. Her students were as committed as she was and showed her much support. At first, he had been worried about their closeness in age but they looked up to her and admired her skills.

As Seteth was walking through the garden, he passed by Hilda and Sylvain who were bantering in a flirty fashion. Those two had become friends and were always chatting like that without any meaning behind it. Perhaps a flirt wouldn’t target another flirt. He had decided to ignore them when Hilda actually called him. He stopped and turned to them.

“Do you need something, Hilda?” he asked, waiting for her new excuse to slack off.

“Are you going to see the Professor?” she smiled in a way that made Seteth wary.

“Not at the moment. Do you need to speak to her?”

“I thought you would be more often together, you two, since you go to each other’s room.”

“Uh?” he uttered before thinking it would sound better to use words. “What do you mean by that?”

“I saw her going to your room when you were sick. That was nice of her to visit you.”

“Our Professor’s always been nice to everybody, Hilda,” Sylvain added to it in his usual teasing tone. “Even finding stuff we lose, like love letters and lipsticks.”

Seteth felt like he had been trapped in an ambush. Byleth had been seen that day, and by no less than that gossiping young lady. Their way of phrasing sounded innocent but their smiles and tones were implying something else. He tried to hide his agitation underneath his stern face, hoping, _praying_ he wouldn’t blush.

“But, Hilda, I crossed her path that day and the Professor told me she had been training all morning,” Sylvain continued in a fake shock.

“Eh? Was I wrong?” she asked in the same fashion.

“Dimitri and Dedue were to be late for lunch so I told her she had time to take a shower. Anybody else from my class would have believed such a lie, though. They’re all quite oblivious about that kind of things.”

 _He knew_. Of could he would. Seducing women appeared to be one of his hobbies. How far he was actually going with them was unclear, though. He didn’t hide the fact he was popular with the ladies but he seldomly talked about them.

“What kind of things, Sylvain? Pray tell.”

“Don’t you two have better things to do of your time other than spreading inanities about your teachers?” Seteth spoke with clenched teeth.

“Inanities? Didn’t I see you staying quite some time in her room the other day?” Sylvain continued in fake surprise, talking about the day Seteth had taken care of Byleth after her father’s death.

"Perhaps I shall write to Lord Holst and Margrave Gautier so they’d encourage you to be more diligent in your studies instead of gossiping, flirting and slacking off,” he threatened somberly.

“Why’s that?” a voice asked behind him.

Seteth’s cheeks instantly flushed when Byleth suddenly joined them and meddled in their conversation. Hilda and Sylvain’s faces beamed at this sight and they looked at him with teasing smiles. He just wanted to dig himself into a hole and hide there until the end of times. Byleth looked at him, then at the two students, and at Seteth again.

“You shouldn’t be teasing your teachers,” she scolded them in a gentle voice. “Hilda, Claude was looking for you. He said ‘I hope she’s doing what I asked instead of dumping her work onto some poor fool’. Sylvain, you’re on stable duty with Ingrid today. And I can tell you she’s angry you forgot about it.”

Both students scattered back to their duties without any resistance. That was the work of a true professional. She looked up to Seteth once they were gone. The corners of her lips were slightly curved up.

“You’re blushing,” she observed.

“Whose fault is that?” he muttered, visibly troubled.

“I think it’s cute.”

“What? Are you teasing me now?”

Flustered, he turned his back to the students who walked past them to hide his beet red face. He had seen Byleth teasing some of her students two or three times but it was the first time she was teasing _him_. He had never expected that from her and she seemed to enjoy it.

“What did they talk to you about that made you threaten them?” she asked, inviting him to walk to a part of the garden that was barely frequented.

“N-Nothing of importance.”

“Alright.”

Didn’t she actually want to know? Her face was a bit easier to read now but she still had some confusing reactions at times. He watched Byleth as she was observing a cat nonchalantly passing by. She would sometimes feed the stray cats and dogs of the monastery. Seteth then took advantage of her distraction to hug her from behind.

“What are you doing?” she asked, surprised he would do such a thing in public though nobody was likely to come by.

“Hugging you.”

“Obviously.”

“And you can’t see me blushing anymore,” he pouted half-heartedly.

“It wouldn’t be the first time, though.”

Teasing again? _Who_ was that woman? Still keeping her against him with one arm, he slipped his fingers to pull on her collar to kiss the side of her neck. His tongue licked her skin and he could feel Byleth fidgeting against him. Then, he sucked her skin into his mouth for a moment, which made her refrain a cry of surprise.

He finally let her go and she turned to him, with her hand pressed against a freshly given love bite.

“What did you do?” she asked, looking unsettled or maybe shocked.

“Revenge for the teasing,” he smiled with confidence.

Unable to keep his countenance any longer, Seteth took his leave as he had duties to attend to, leaving Byleth some time to collect herself in the garden. He took the long and scarcely frequented way to get to his office, trying to hide his flushed face behind his hand.

A love bite? _Really?_ Near Byleth, he definitely behaved like some horny teenager and the worst was that he wouldn’t own up to it after he’d conduct himself in such manner. Because of his position, he was supposed to act as a role model after all. Instead, he acted like a fool.

However, as he was hiding a clumsy smile behind his hand, Seteth thought that it felt good to be a fool sometimes.


End file.
